Accident [Blu-ray]

From Hong Kong in 2009, "Accident" is a superb noirish drama about a group of professional assassins who kill people by staging elaborate, faked accidents. Unfortunately, the film gets a disappointing Blu-ray video transfer from Shout Factory. Not only is its screen aspect ratio cropped from the original 2:35:1 to 1.78:1, but its colors and sharpness are also unsatisfactory for a high-def transfer. There is a much better-looking (and also region-free) import Blu-ray edition made by Hong Kong's Mega Star, and you should get that edition instead. Blu-ray.com has screen captures of both editions, where the poor picture quality of Shout Factory's Region-A edition is readily apparent.

"Accident" belongs to one of Hong Kong's most venerable genres, the crime drama, But director Pou-Soi Cheang departed from the genre's convention and created a quiet, noirish thriller full of subtle psychological intrigue. Its story brings to mind Francis Coppola's 1974 film "The Conversation" -- a lonely, paranoid man in a shady profession, who doesn't quite get along with his subordinates, who gets a contract and executes it to perfection, only to find out things have gone wrong. "Accident" has its "Blow-Up" moment as well (sort of), when the killers meticulously plan and execute an "accident". When the latest job doesn't go according to plan, the leader of the group thinks other people are on to him, and he proceeds to spy on others in the voyeuristic latter part of the film. Sparse dialogs, oftentimes evocative camera angles, and an effectively moody central performance by Louis Koo as the leader all make this a rewarding viewing experience.

As I said earlier, do not buy Shout Factory's North American Blu-ray sold here at Amazon. Go to import merchants like Yesasia to order the Mega Star's region-free Blu-ray instead. The pricing of both editions are similar right now. Both editions come with a mildly interesting, press-kit style 15-minute "Making of" featurette, but only Shout Factory offers English subtitles for it. For the main film, both editions come with a nice lossless audio track for the original Cantonese dialogs. But Shout Factory offers unremovable English subtitles only, while Mega Star offers removable English and Chinese subtitles.

Filmmaker Pou-Soi Cheang is known for films that revolve around assassins or murder ("Hidden Heroes", "Dog Bite Dog", "Shamo", "Love Battlefield"), in 2009, Cheang would collaborate with famous Hong Kong producer Johnnie To ("Election", "PTU", "Running Out of Time") and would release the film "Accident".

"Accident" ("Yi Ngoi") would star Louis Koo ("Triad Election", "Election", "Zu Warriors", "Flash Point"), Richie Jen ("Breaking News", "Fly Me to Polaris", "Exiled"), Shui-Fan Fung ("Vengeance", "Infernal Affairs", "Winners & Sinners"), Michelle Ye ("Vengeance", "Lady Cop & Papa Crook") and Suet Lam ("Kung Fu Hustle", "PTU", "Election").

The film would be nominated for four Hong Kong Film Awards and would win "Best Supporting Actress" for Michelle Ye.

VIDEO:

"Accident" is presented in 108p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). A colleague mine told me that "Accident" is actually 2:39:1 and was cropped to a 1:79:1 ratio and that there are some scenes that are lost to the cropping. I haven't seen the "Accident" prior but seeing that others are reporting that the film was cropped, that would be disappointing. But I'm going to cover this prior to me knowing about the film being cropped. First, I will start with the good. There are some really beautiful scenes by cinematographer Yuen Man Fung. From the use of reflections and bokeh lights, that was nice to see.

But now to the bad, there are some artifacts that I noticed during scenes with a lot of red. For example, one scene featuring The Brain next to a red door, I saw some artifacting on the door. Fortunately, it was a short scene, but it is there. Also, I've watched many, many Louis Koo films in my lifetime to know that either there was DNR or the makeup designer put too much make him on him.

The film looks very soft at times and then crisp at times...But to tell you the truth, clarity for a Blu-ray release, the film seemed uneven in video quality. While videophiles will probably be bothered by it, casual viewers will probably not be bothered at all.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Accident" is presented in Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0. The film does sound good during its action sequences (accidents) to ambiance such as the static radio to the sounds of footsteps above The Brain's hideout. So, the lossless soundtrack was good, but not very immersive which is understandable as most of the film is dialogue-driven or featuring the Brain spying on individuals through his headphones. But I was told the HK release featured a 7.1 lossless soundtrack, so I'm surprised that was not included on this Blu-ray release.

Subtitles are in English (non-removable).

SPECIAL FEATURES

"Accident" comes with the following special features:

Trailer - (1:30) The theatrical trailer for "Accident".
Making Of - (12:39) Featuring a few "Making Of" featurettes with interviews with the filmmaker and cast of "Accident".

JUDGMENT CALL:

I have been a big fan of Louis Koo, Richie Jen and Johnnie To films for a long time. I have seen Louis and Richie in many roles ranging from romantic comedies to just enjoyable popcorn comedy or action films.

For "Accident", this role is probably the most subdued role I have seen both men in. Louis Koo plays the character of "The Brain", a person who has went through emotional trauma and is very suspicious towards people, as his career is about pulling of the most difficult crimes and making them look like accidents. One misstep and he and the others will be in trouble.

But there is one thing that is a bit lacking is that we know he has gone through emotional trauma due to the death of his wife. Was it a car accident? Was she killed purposely? Who knows. But I was hoping to see how this accident would have a major effect on this man and it was something that was featured a little and made me feel that there was more to the story that was not included. Possibly cut.

There are some pacing issues and questionable writing as well. It's one thing to show the buildup and lack of trust that The Brain has towards the mysterious insurance agent, Chan Fong-Chow but how is it that he starts to lose faith in his crew. It just comes out of nowhere and doesn't seem convincing.

Which then brings us to Chan Fong-Chow, possibly the best part of this film is how they use Richie Jen's character and I don't want to say too much but how the character was utilized was fascinating and my favorite part of the film. Although Jen's character is more towards normalcy instead of bombastic, happy character portrayals which I have seen him do before, it was pretty cool to see Jen play this type of character.

If anything, while I found some pacing and writing issues, the overall story was very good and quite different from what one is used to seeing in an HK film. For so long, many fans have demanded original stories and were tired of rehashed storylines of things from the past. "Accident" was definitely not banal.

Which leads us to the Blu-ray release. The choice to crop the film from 2:39:1 to 1:78:1 is problematic and also to not release a 7.1 lossless soundtrack is a bit of a letdown. Considering this is a Shout! Factory product, the company is known for its quality and is known for delivering what fans want. But I don't see how any Hong Kong cinema fan would approve of a release that is not up to standard of the original HK Blu-ray release.

And as for a Blu-ray release, it's not the best when it comes to clarity or details. And it's one of the few titles where I think HK cinema fans will probably not miss much if they go with DVD than the Blu-ray release.

Overall, "Accident" was a film that I did enjoy and as a longtime Louis Koo and Richie Jen fan, it's great to see these two actors in these type of character roles. And I was pleased to see a story that was not typical HK banality, I enjoyed "Accident" because it was different. But as for the Blu-ray release, knowing that the Hong Kong Blu-ray release is superior to the Region 1 US release, is a bit of a letdown and why the cropping, who knows? But in the end, what could have been an awesome release ends up becoming decent.

Accident is a film about contract killers that eliminate their targets by making it look like an accident. But, a "accident" occurs to one of the group which leads The Brain, basically the leader, to suspect that they are being targeted by similar assassins.

What did I like? It shows you detailed planning of their hits; and these hits are unique and often violent. They feel so real and definitely possible. Watching The Brain spiral into a world of paranoia was interesting and entertaining. The last 15 minutes or so, the ending, was unexpected and great. I enjoyed the ending and the music was great.

What did I dislike? The slow pace was effective at times, but didn't work during some scenes. Not a big issues, but worth noting.

Overall, I highly recommend Accident. As of 7/29/12, it is available on Netflix Streaming, but a purchase is recommended.

This movie has strong blood and violence, and a brief sex scene (no nudity).